• Get up early and get as much stuff done outside as I can before it’s sweltering
• Frequent breaks
• Freeze wet wash cloths or bandannas, grab one from the freezer, and put it around my neck to cool down
• Ice blended cocktails (minus the alcohol if that’s not your jam)
• Keep a bowl of ice cubes out for the doggos
• Move my home office down to the basement in the summer
• Blinds and curtains closed after late morning (sorry houseplants!)

mine is actually something I learned about in therapy. wet a washcloth with cold water, then put ice cubes in it. there are various places you can put it to cool down (inner part of your elbow, neck, lower back, etc.) but the first one I was taught was actually the pulse point under your chin, because it also serves a purpose of calming you down. if you’re angry or anxious, it might help, on top of cooling you off.

a second thing that I’ve done is, before bed, putting my comforter and/or my pillowcase in the freezer. only really works depending on size of the freezer and comforter, though.

Once heat is in your house, it’s hard to get out. So, prevent it from coming in by keeping you doors, windows, curtains, and best of all shutters closed

Lots of water breaks (not cold, but below ambient temps), cold compresses, sheltering under trees, cool showers, avoiding physical contact from the dog and cat

It’s AC now, but in the desperate beforetimes it was getting into a shower at the temperature of my skin, then getting out and not drying off to allow for further evaporative cooling(Thank god its not humid where I live)

Running from ac to AC like its cover in a warzone.

I switch my schedule so that all chores are done in the morning or night. If it’s really bad, I rinse off in the shower lowering the temp slowly until it feels too cold. Lots of water and crystal light. And I snack on cucumbers.

picks up the AC remote what did you say again?

I’m a fan of my fan

Taking a shower, not too cold

Honestly one of the quickest ways I’ve found to cool down is to run my wrists under cold water.

And for my dog, wet t-shirts and wet towels tucked under his groin and armpits. I wish he was a water dog (we’ve tried wading pools, sprinklers etc) but he’s not so other than forcing him to drink enough water, I’ve found he’ll tolerate the wet items on him.

Seeing all these comments on use of ACs… what happens if it cumulatively overloads the grid and you get blackouts?

Is there a Plan B?

Not the greatest solution, but… living in a place where it’s mostly been raining for the last 7-8 weeks makes it easy to cool down.
I’d love to write something about A/C and going for a swim/dive instead, like last year. Maybe in July?

I just don’t go outside. AC running throughout the day, though I do set max temps at different levels throughout the day to take advantage of lower electricity rates or avoid higher rates.

This past week I did have to do some rare outdoors work for work over a few days. My team elected to do it in the evenings and early in the mornings. Was still quite warm, but not sun glaring down on us, we’re gonna get heat stroke from this, afternoon sun.

I carry around an Anker battery bank and a USB fan that I keep pointed at myself.

I’ve stopped wearing a shirt.

I sit in a lawn chair in the shade and move as little as possible.